Document text
Raiders ready for season opener vs. No. 19 Rocky By SOU Sports Information Updated: Aug 24, 2022 09:31 PM A A ASHLAND — If the Southern Oregon University football team wants to get reestablished as a Frontier Conference power, it has a golden opportunity to jump-start the process in the first few hours of the season Saturday at Raider Stadium. Last year’s conference co-champion, No. 19-ranked Rocky Mountain (Mont.), will be in town as SOU opens the team’s 87th season at Raider Stadium. Kickoff is set for 11:30 a.m. The Raiders return all but four regular starters, having lost just one from the offense, to face an opponent whose core of five FC all-stars is headed by sixth-year senior quarterback Nathan Dick. “Relative to where we were a year ago, it’s been an incredible fall experience and I have a lot of confidence in what we’re doing,” SOU head coach Charlie Hall said. “I really believe in our process and the progress we’ve made from the winter up until now. The new coordinators are incredibly invested and the kids have bought in, so I’m excited to see what it looks like.” Both teams have good reasons to enter the new campaign with chips on their shoulders. The Raiders, seeking their first winning season since 2018, are eager to avenge a 3-7 record that was locked in by a season-ending five-game losing streak. The Battlin’ Bears were left with a sour taste in their mouths after a double-overtime loss at Montana Western in the FC finale cost them an outright title and a spot in the NAIA Championship Series. Their only otQher two losses were decided by six points combined. “I expect to face a really confident football team,” Hall said. “I think they’re kicking themselves based on how last season ended and they have a lot of pieces back. Their quarterback is a great athlete and a guy you can build around, and he has a more veteran offensive line in front of him. Defensively, they’re physical up front with a lot of athletes on the perimeter that can match up with us.” The Battlin’ Bears, FC champions in two of the last three full seasons, shared last year’s title with Montana Western and College of Idaho. UMW was the FC’s representative in the national playoffs and enters 2022 as the conference’s preseason favorite after collecting four of eight first-place votes. Rocky tied for second in the poll with Carroll (Mont.), which went 6-4 last year and won five of its last six games. C of I, Montana Tech, Eastern Oregon, SOU and Montana State-Northern rounded out the rankings. In the preseason NAIA Top 25, UMW is No. 17, Rocky is No. 19, and Carroll and C of I are receiving votes. The first poll of the regular season will be released on Sept. 12. In Frontier play, the Raiders are 11-8 against NAIA Top 25 opponents at home. They collected their last win of that variety against then-No. 19 Eastern Oregon, 24-3, on Oct. 2 of last year. Overall against FC opponents as the designated home team (including games in Ashland, Medford, Grants Pass, Eugene and Sherwood), they’re 34-11. SOU owns a 106-64 all-time record at Raider Stadium and has gone 8-1 in Frontier home-opening games. SOU has a 9-3 record in the all-time series with the Battlin’ Bears and is unbeaten in five home game against them. The matchup dates back to 2001, and the Raiders are 6-3 in conference games between the teams. They played the 2021 season-opener in Billings, and the Raiders’ rust was apparent in a 42-28 loss that marked their first outing in 21 months. Nathan Dick threw three touchdown passes and the Bears dominated with a 226-yard net advantage on the ground while watching the Raiders accumulate 141 yards in penalties. Notes – Four receivers on the Raider roster have previously logged 100-reception-yard games: Bryce Goggin (4), Christian Graney (2), Adrik Lamar (1) and Sawyer Cleveland (1). A fifth, Ben Graziani, has a career-best of 88 yards. Goggin was the team’s representative on the All-Frontier first team last year after ranking second in the conference and 20th in the NAIA in reception yards per game (89.1) and second in the conference in receiving touchdowns (8). Graney has been No. 2 in Frontier receptions two seasons in a row and is up to 120 catches for 1,168 yards entering his fourth season. – Quarterback Matt Struck is back under center after being sidelined for a majority of the second half of 2021. In five starts before sustaining in injury in the sixth, he completed 51.8 percent of his passes (100-of-193) for 234.6 yards per game and 10 TDs. He finished with 15 TDs (including three rushing) and five interceptions, and in his SOU debut at Rocky entered as a reserve to go 14-of-30 for 259 yards. – The Raiders are hoping to improve a rushing game that ranked 93rd nationally in average yards and hit triple digits once in 2021. Their returning starter at running back, Christian Quirarte, accumulated 220 yards on 83 attempts but had his best game in the finale, rushing 14 times for 49 yards at Eastern Oregon. – Returning on SOU’s defensive line is a crew that combined for 18 ½ sacks a year ago. Alejandro Sanchez was responsible for 9 ½ of those, the fourth-highest single-season total for a Raider in the Frontier era. Stokes Botelho, starting his sixth year in the program, leads the defensive backs group after totaling five interceptions last year - the most for a Raider since 2015 and 14th-most in the NAIA - as an all-conference corner. He also led all returning players in tackles with 52. – Jake Regino, the team’s second-leading tackler in 2019, will make his return at linebacker after missing nine of 10 games last year. The senior has recorded 85 tackles in 16 career games, topping out at 12. – The final stretch of 2021 marked just the second time that the Raiders have held three consecutive opponents to 20 or fewer points since joining the Frontier. – The Raiders found a reliable kicker last year in Cesar Ruiz. Now a junior, he converted all 23 of his extra-point attempts and went 7-of-9 on field goals with a long of 42 yards. Southern Oregon University quarterback Matt Struck will lead the Raiders’ offense in Saturday’s season opener against No. 19-ranked Rocky Mountain. (Mail Tribune file photo)